LAWRENCE — With a week to prepare for Georgetown, Kansas spent four practice days going over the Hoyas’ offense before Saturday’s 86-64 victory at Allen Fieldhouse.

The result? GU hit 10 of its first 12 field goals in taking a 23-17 lead after the game’s first nine minutes.

“To start the game we acted like we were nervous about being aggressive, because we were scared they were going to backcut us,” KU coach Bill Self said. “I thought the first eight or nine minutes, we were terrible defensively.”

So what changed after that?

One thing was KU’s defense. Two of the next three times down, Self called for a 1-2-2 full-court press that later morphed into a 3-2 zone. One of those possessions ended with a Joel Embiid block, and the other resulted in a GU turnover.

The two momentum-turning plays seemed to amp up the Jayhawks' energy when they went back to their customary man defense.

“We just started to pressure the ball more, get the guards out of just being able to relax,” KU point guard Naadir Tharpe said. “That’s how they like to play. They try to slow up the game, so we were just trying to make sure we got out there and caused a little havoc.”

Self labeled the game as a defensive success based on his team's ability to follow the scouting report.

After giving his team the defensive gameplan to not give up layups on backcuts or 3-pointers, KU allowed no backcuts and just four long-range shots to the Hoyas.

“You take away the first 10 minutes defensively,” Self said, “(and) that was a much better basketball team out there.”

Georgetown made just 12 of its final 42 shots (29 percent). The Hoyas, who entered as a top-10 team in 2-point percentage, also made just 18 of their 39 shots inside the arc (46 percent), as KU finished with seven blocks.

The victory gets the young Jayhawks officially to winter break when, after Christmas, Self is allowed unrestricted practice time with school not in session.

Overall, the 11th-year coach says he feels good about his team's direction.

“We’re still a long ways away, but I do think they’re starting to understand better,” Self said. “They’re getting more comfortable. That’s obvious.”

One reason Self had to be optimistic after Saturday’s game was his team’s balanced production. Even with Andrew Wiggins and Perry Ellis — KU’s top two scorers — having subpar first halves, the Jayhawks still managed to put up 44 points.

“I think our guard play, to me, was encouraging to see Wayne (Selden Jr.) make some shots and do some things (Saturday),” Self said. “Our bench can certainly get better, especially on the perimeter. I think our interior bench has been great. But we’re getting better.”

SELF PLEASED WITH AGGRESSIVE WIGGINS — Though Wiggins finished with 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting, Self commented after the game that he liked the freshman’s mentality.

“He drove it hard there several times the first half and didn’t get a whistle. He may not have gotten fouled, but at least he was doing what he’s supposed to be doing,” Self said. “But he needs to be a guy to shoot 10 free throws a game. If he keeps attacking the rim, or gets a little better doing that, it’d be nice to be able to chalk up eight points before the game even starts just because you know he’s going to get to the free-throw line.”